It’s one hundred years since Vivien Leigh’s birth and the British Film Institute is marking the centenary with a season of the British actress’ films, including Gone With The Wind (obviously), Anna Karenina and A Streetcar Named Desire. 

Born in 1913 in Darjeeling, India, Leigh’s life story was just as dramatic as those of the characters she brought to life on the stage and screen. She fell in love with a young Laurence Olivier, leaving her husband and child to be with him, and together they made an impossibly glamorous, talented couple. She landed the part of Scarlett O’Hara despite being a virtual unknown in Hollywood and won two Academy Awards, despite making just 19 films. 

Of course there are countless actresses from the golden age of Hollywood who lit up the screen with their exquisite beauty, but Vivien had something extra that made her stand out among her contemporaries. It’s the way her delicate features could express a range of emotions in rapid succession - from caprice to vulnerability - that meant the audience couldn’t help responding to her and it genuinely felt like she was drawing on aspects of her own character, both dark and light, to bring her roles to life. 

Vivien Leigh died from tuberculosis aged just 53, but her legacy as a cinematic icon and great beauty burns as brightly today as it ever did.  Click through the gallery to see some of her most memorable on-screen moments that illustrate perfectly why she was such an iconic British actress whose beauty was surpassed only by her talent.